In solidarity with the Old North Church and those fighting against tyranny, we rang our old train bell at 6 PM. It rang through the forest,the valley too. Maybe just the animals heard but it felt awesome! #LetFreedomRing

March 1, 2025 Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) emerging! The last 2 years they were up by Feb 14. Botetourt County, Virginia
#nativeplants #BlueRidgeMountains #virginianativeplants

Virginia State Capitol, Richmond! Protesting Trump/Musk A great group of energetic, peaceful protestors on Feb 5 2025!
#USprotest #50501 #feb5 #protest #RVA

Bird Art Week at Cornell Ornithology so here is the pileated woodpecker that I painted yesterday. I was inspired by 3 of these awesome dinosaurs that were on our black maple this week.
#birdartweek #birds #SciArt #blueridgemountains #pileatedwoodpecker #trees #watercolorpainting

Fun picture of our backyard white oak, Quercus alba, under the full January wolf moon. Taken at 11 PM, the branch shadows make awesome root-like patterns.
#virginianativeplants #trees #moon #nativeplants

Cranefly orchid, Tipularia discolor. While we have tons of puttyroot, this is the only cranfly we have found so I went to check on it today. Alive and well! I love the purple color!
#nativeplants #blueridge

A wee goby. This lovely was caught by seining in the brackish York River in September, kept a short while in a tank for student observation, then released. I love the mouth and think the sketch shows it well while the fin proportions are not quite accurate.
#SundayFishSketch #SciArt #ChesapeakeBay

I think this is mountain fetterbush, Pieris floribunda. Location in #BlueRidgeMountains of Virginia, elevation about 2500 feet, bushes about 2 to 5 ft tall in thickets along with mountain laurel.
So confusing because they are blooming on Nov 16! Any thoughts? #nativeplants #blueridge

I tried to capture the colors of 2 side by side maples on an October hike. In reality, they both had a more brilliant red but this was what I came up with.
🐡🌱 #SciArt #nativeplants #trees #maples #McAfee'sKnob

Feather blennie in 2 poses. From the lower York River close to the Chesapeake Bay. It seemed to be posing for the camera while in the temporary observation tank. #SciArt #SundayFishSketch

This is me with the Alwood Oak, planted in 1895. So big we couldn't get it all in the picture. I love it so much. This fall we went back just to see its acorns and they are as magnificent as the tree itself! Thanks for for highlighting this awesome species!

Western sky at sunrise. I caught a nice #alpenglow on the mountain with the full moon setting. This scene only lasted maybe a minute. What a great way to start the day! #moon #fullmoon

Full October moon, setting at around 7:15 AM in our western sky last month. I'm hoping for a visible awesome moonset for the full moon tomorrow morning! #moon #blueridgemountains

🐡 Native puttyroot orchid, Aplectrum hyemale. The single basal leaves are up now and I'm excited to see many more than last year. This is my nature journal page
#SciArt #nativeplants #watercolor #nativeorchid

A very small oyster toadfish from the York River living temporarily in a tank for students to observe. My first ever #sciart watercolor fish! 🐡

I wanted my first ever post to be beautiful. This is my view on Nov 4. Trying to keep beauty in mind now that the world feels so much uglier.